"Good morning, sweetheart."
Groggily she opened her eyes to see her handsome fiancée looking down at her. "Good morning, sweetheart. What time is it?"
"It's 10am, and I was starting to get hungry and figured you and our baby might be as well."
"I can't believe I slept so long! I didn't even unpack anything last night. I'm sorry, Tony."
"No need for an apology, mi amore. I've already gotten the laundry going and the bags are all unpacked and everything else is put away. Now what would you like for breakfast?"
"Do we have any muffins? I'd love one with some of that strawberry jam you made. Oh, and some orange juice and tea, if it's not too much trouble."
"No trouble at all. What kind of muffin would you like? We have blueberry or banana walnut."
"Banana walnut sounds delicious! I'll come help you."
"Nothin' doing. I will bring a tray in here. For the both of us."
"That'd be lovely, Tony." She sat up and threw her arms around him and gave him a passionate kiss.
"Sweetheart, we should be probably get some breakfast in you. I mean, I'd love to continue where you're leading, but I know that you need nutrition too."
After they'd eaten their breakfast and gotten showered and changed, Tony suggested they go for a walk. It was a warm autumn day, and the leaves were beginning to change color. As they walked through the campus, he was quietly thinking about what he had in store for her.
"Penny for your thoughts, Tony."
"I was just thinking how I'm so glad that Mona ran into me eight years ago. Without that chance meeting, I never would have met my love, my best friend. I've been in love with you so long, Angela, but I'm so grateful that we established our friendship first. We've had some bumps in the road, mostly my own pride getting in the way, but I am so grateful for all of it, as it brought us to where we are now."
"Tony, without you in my life I would've probably been on my way to an early grave, with how hard I'd still be working, making no time for fun. I also would've never been fired from Wallace & McQuaid, thus never starting my own advertising agency. Correction, our agency, as The Bower Agency wouldn't have even existed without you. You were the support I never knew I'd needed, my champion, my hero. You are my one and only true love, and I cannot wait to see where all these new experiences and changes will take us. We've gone through so much over the past eight years, and though we had a rough start, we've persevered and made a family of the five, well soon to be six, of us."
"You truly do make me a happy man, Angela. I would've never made it through the teenage years without you. Oh, here we are."
They ended up at a little gazebo at the edge of the campus. Set within the gazebo was a small bistro table and two chairs. On the table was a vase filled with pink roses, a box of chocolates, a bottle of sparkling apple cider, and two glasses. "Tony, is this for us?"
"Yes, my love, it is."
"But how..."
"I had a little assistance but it was all my idea. Oh, and one more thing." He pulled out a small box from his pocket.
"What is this? It's not my birthday or our anniversary."
"True, but I have heard that a father should give the expectant mother a gift. So I thought I'd start early."
She opened up the box, and inside was a charm bracelet with a few charms: a baseball, a ballet slipper, a heart, and one that said "1992". "Oh Tony, it's lovely. But when did you have time?" she asked through crying happy tears.
"Well, thanks to your long sleep, I was able to go out and visit the jewelry store this morning,"
"You certainly do spoil me, Mr. Micelli."
"Always and only for you, sweetheart. Now when are you going to make you an official Micelli? After all you are now carrying a Micelli in you."
"You know, I've been thinking about that recently, and now with our baby on the way, I'd like to do it before he or she makes an appearance. What about in spring? I know you'd wanted a big wedding, but I'd be happy with something small, just our family and a few close friends."
"That sounds perfect to me! And right now I just want to make you as happy as you make me. A small spring wedding would be great. If we did it over spring break we could do it at the arboretum at Ridgemont College. It's beautiful there in the springtime."
"That sounds lovely. I love you, Anthony Morton Micelli."
"And I love you, Angela Catherine Bower." They sealed their plans with a romantic kiss just as a young couple walked by.
"I want to be like them when we get older," said the boy.
Angela and Tony were too busy to hear the young man's comment.